Dobby The Ladies Man
by emerald-eyed-stag
Summary: Dobby is in love with Winky. He needs to prove to her that he is more than a friend...he needs to be a ladies man...like Harry Potter! A challenge set by Omnicat. Please read and reveiw! DW
1. Chapter 1

**This is the reply to the challenge posted on Pinocchio's forum, by onmicat, where the story had to be about something unusual falling in love, like an animal, or portraits, or house elves, or werewolves, or animagus in their transformed state. It's lots of fun to write so far, so here it is, my omni pairings fanfic: Dobby, the ladies man.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

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Harry awoke to the horrible stench of what seemed to be cologne, only with a bitter quality to it, like someone has left it for a couple of thousand years. It wafted into his sleep and made his eyes water, pulling him rudely back to consciousness much quicker than the incoherent squeaking and the nervous jabbing of his stomach did.

"Harry Potter sir?" Dobby's anxious voice made his eyes snap wide open, once and for all. Harry yawned, and pulled on his glasses, the image of the elf standing before him proving not to be a mere hallucination as it came slowly into focus, and nervous grin on his tiny face.

Harry sat up I bed.

"Dobby? What time is it?" he hissed, looking around the dormitory to see if anyone else was awake yet. They weren't Ron was still lying there, his head hanging off the side of his four poster bed, his mouth hanging slightly open. Neville's snores still filled the room dramatically, annoying anyone who was stupid enough to be awake at this time of the morning.

"One o'clock sir." Dobby said, bowing his head sheepishly and rolling his toe around on the bed, his hands behind his back, looking almost like a four year old that had been caught with one hand in the cookie jar.

It was only now that Harry had time to completely register the change in Dobby's appearance. The smell that had awoken him was only one of the changes in the elf.

He was wearing, as though for some kind of strange celebration, knee-high black sock, dotted strategically with tiny pink love hearts, and his chest was covered, not only by Ron Weasley's old jumper, but by a tie that had hearts on it to rival those ornamenting his toes, only these where coloured red.

The hairs that had once protruded from his ears were gone, and they appeared to be red and raw, and his face was surprisingly clean. Dobby even looked as though he were attempting to grow a moustache, and he was looking at Harry through a pair of tiny glasses, perched on his nose unnecessarily.

"Dobby…you look…er, nice." This was quite a kind statement for Harry to make to a house elf that had woken him up at this ungodly hour of the morning, without any obvious reason. It was also a complete exaggeration of the way that Dobby looked.

At these words, however, Dobby brightened up considerably, and seemed to glow with pride. His elation, however, only lasted for so long. He flopped down onto the bed, like a deflated balloon, and bowed his head.

"Dobby has come to Harry Potter for advice sir." Dobby said quietly. Harry looked exasperated, and groaned inwardly.

"At one in the morning Dobby?" he asked. Dobby looked guilty, and apologetic.

"Dobby is very sorry sir. Dobby will go and let Harry Potter sleep sir. Dobby only thought-"

Harry sighed, and grabbed the elf's arm to stop him from leaving.

"No Dobby, sit down, it's fine, I'm up now." Harry said, and Dobby smiled at him gratefully.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked.

"Dobby doesn't know where to begin Harry Potter sir." Dobby said, speaking to his hands, which, Harry noticed, sported carefully groomed fingernails.

"House elves don't normally…but I is not like a regular house elf Harry Potter, and neither is Winky…" Dobby's voice seemed to fail him. And he looked up at Harry solemnly, and Harry had to stifle a laugh at what he thought was coming.

It was then, this close, that Harry realised that the glasses Dobby was wearing had no glass in them. They were merely wire, with great holes for the eyes to peer through. Harry was confused.

"Dobby, what's with the glasses?" he asked. Dobby's knobbly cheeks flushed red, and he looked a little guilty.

"Dobby wanted to be a ladies man Harry Potter sir." He explained. "I thoughts to myself; who is a ladies man that Dobby knows sir? And then it came to me; Harry Potter and his Wheezy are ladies men, oh yes! Harry Potter is always being chased after by girls, and Wheezy has miss Granger!"

There was a grunt from the next bed, and Harry knew that Ron must be awake. He laughed. Dobby looked shocked.

"No Dobby, I wasn't laughing at you!" he reassured the elf. "Go on…"

"So I asks myself, what makes Harry Potter and his Wheezy such good ladies men? And I answers myself; I needs to look like Harry Potter sir!" Dobby's eyes were shining in anticipation, awaiting Harry's reaction to his seemingly ingenious plan. Harry surveyed the elf again. The glasses and the fact he still wore the jumper despite the socks and the long pants now made much more sense. The jumper even had an R on it. Harry tried desperately not to laugh, and, from the next bed, Ron transformed a hefty chuckle into a hacking snore.

"And why did you want to be a ladies man in the first place Dobby?" Harry asked, trying to be kind, his insides bursting with the insanity and the hilariousness of the entire situation, from the glassless glasses to the heart lacquered socks.

Dobby blushed even more furiously, and gave Harry a small, smitten looking smile.

"It is no use Harry Potter sir. Dobby has tried everything sir. It is no use at all. Winky would never love Dobby Harry Potter." Dobby hung his head, his bat like ears flopping down solemnly over his face, drooping like a wilted flower as he thought of Winky.

Harry, still fighting back laughs, gave Dobby an encouraging smile.

"And how is Winky?" he asked.

"She is much better Harry Potter sir! Dobby is having to take to her to the Room of Requirement less and less sir!" Dobby squeaked. He then looked guilty. "But in a way, that is a bad thing sir. Dobby shouldn't say, but he will miss not taking care of Winky sir. It is a pleasure sir, and when she is better then he will have to no more."

Harry grinned.

"I'm not really the greatest at these sort of things Dobby, to tell you the truth. Hermione is the one who normally does this sort of stuff."

"But sir, you is always bringing Miss Weasley down for dates in the kitchens sir. I is knowing, I is cooking for you sir! I is talking to you-"

Harry heard another loud snore like sound from the next bed and groaned. The place that he and Ginny would sneak off to was no longer a secret.

"Yes Dobby, but it took me six years to finally go out with Ginny! Trust me, I'm no prince charming." Dobby looked at him, pleading with his massive round eyes.

"Please Harry Potter sir. Will sir even talk to miss Granger about helping Dobby?"

Harry nodded. "Alright." Dobby let out a whoop, and attempted to throw himself off the bed and out the door, no doubt headed straight for the girls dormitories, but Harry held onto the back of his jumper.

'Dobby! In the morning! Right now, we need to sleep, you included." Dobby smiled at Harry, his eyes filling up with gracious tears. "Thankyou Harry Potter sir. Thankyou very much sir."

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**A/N: hehe, hope that you like it! Read the challenge, it's at pinocchio's challenges forum. Dobby's so cute. This wont be a long fic at all, maybe just a few chapters, it was going to be a oneshot, but I decided to post in bits, so here is the first one!**

**Luv Ella Evans**

**PLEASE REVIEW!**


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: This fic is sort of getting longer and longer, because it is becoming so much fun to write. Three chapters should do it. Hope that you enjoy this next instalment!

Dobby tiptoed back into the kitchen, where all the elves where sleeping soundly. At night-time, the high rooved room transformed into a sleeping quarters with tiny beds fit perfectly for the elves, their tiny snoring heads resting comfortingly on their pillows until the hour when they would have to wake up and prepare breakfast for the hundreds who dined above them. One or two were still stirring, trying to get to sleep after a long night of cleaning and tiding.

Dobby walked past Winky's little bed, where she lay, snoring quietly, her tiny head moving up and down rhythmically as she breathed heavily in her sleep, her fluttering eyelids telling him that she was dreaming peacefully. He lay down in his bed, situated right near hers, and tried to get to sleep, though Dobby was reluctant to close his eyes. That would mean he would have to give up the hours that he could spend staring at Winky without her knowing… Dobby sighed, and placed his glasses frames on the bedpost, letting his now bare eyes quiver gently into a sleep full of Winky-filled dreams.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

When Harry woke up in the morning, he and Ron exchanged laughter filled glances.

"Yeah Harry, you do have a way with the ladies." Ron laughed. Harry grabbed a cushion, and aimed it at Ron's head before he headed towards the doorway.

'Shut it." He said, and walked down the hall before Ron could wallop him back in turn.

When they reached the common room, Hermione was standing there, ready for them, like she was every morning. In a stark contrast to every other morning, however, Ron and Harry were wearing faces that plainly said they had something to tell her, as opposed to the blank expressions of fatigue that they traditionally wore to breakfast, especially after they had been woken up at one in the morning.

"What's got the two of you looking so smug?" she asked, as they set off down the halls to breakfast.

"I had a visitor last night." Harry started, Ron sniggering. "Dobby came and saw me."

"Well that's great!" said Hermione passionately. "He should get a chance to visit his friends once in a while…take a break from the work. Good on him!"

"Hermione, it was one o'clock in the morning." Harry said weakly. Hermione laughed.

"And why did Dobby come and visit you at that time of night?" she asked.

"He needs your help." Harry started. Hermione's eyes lit up, and Ron groaned as she cut Harry off, excitedly.

"Really? Is it the other house elves? Have they come around? Do they want the same as he and Winky now? Oh Harry that's wonderful!"

"No Hermione, he wants romance advice." Ron silenced her, wild laughter burning in his eyes, as he fought to keep it down. Hermione appeared to be slightly put out, but only for a moment. She regained her composition, and they took their seats at the Gryffindor table, Ron pulling the large plate of bacon and eggs towards him hungrily.

"Romance advice?" she asked, a little confused, though determined not to say something that would undermine her fight for Elfish rites and make Ron mock her continuously. "Why?"

"Dobby," Harry said, "Is in love with Winky."

Hermione's eyes widened.

"Really? That's wonderful! Wouldn't that be good for the campaign! I mean, think about it! There would be loads of publicity! Elfish wedding at Hogwarts!"

"Hermione, forget about SPEW for a moment, will you?" Ron said, his mouth full with scrambled eggs. Hermione winced. "Dobby's trying to act like me and Harry because he thinks that we're, er, how did he put it Harry?" Ron continued, spraying a light coating of eggs on Harry from across the table as he let out a laugh.

"Ladies men?"

Hermione wiped her coat rather obviously, as Ron swallowed, cringing as he said the last two words. Harry sniggered.

"Yes Ron, you're such a role model." Harry laughed, and Hermione gave a small smile. Ron rolled his eyes at them.

"So he wants me to help him?" Hermione said, giving a slight grin at the idea. Harry snorted.

"Yeah, I told him that it wasn't really my area of expertise." Ginny walked in the hall at that exact moment, and being with her had not made Harry any less awkward. At these words, he proceeded to take an abnormally large gulp of water and spill it right down his front.

"You've got that right." Laughed Hermione, as Harry turned red, and she whisked away the water from his robes with a swish of her wand. "Sure, I'll go down and see him at the kitchens, I have a free period first up anyway."

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Dobby spent the entire morning looking over at Winky. The other house elves shook their heads at him sadly, when they caught him. None said anything. It wasn't in the nature of a house elf to pry and poke for information. It wasn't, however, in a house elf's nature to fall madly in love, and that was just what Dobby had done.

He often made a lot of mistakes when he was placed serving the same table as Winky. He liked, on these mornings, to serve the Slytherin table, which he didn't mind messing up so much as had he been on the Gryffindors.

Winky had also changed a lot in the last few months. Her large eyes weren't surrounded with as large a circles, and their brilliant blue colour blinked about innocently. She was drinking less and less, and only once every so often would see go back on the butterbeer, and leave herself in the care of Dobby once again. Her tiny plaid skirt and her little white blouse were properly washed and pressed, a present from Dobby, who had laundered them himself. She also wore two pale blue ribbons, tied loosely around her ears, like a schoolgirl wearing pigtails, a Christmas present from Dobby. The same year she had presented him with a small necklace she had made out of butterbeer corks. He treasured it, and it was hung around his neck underneath his jumper. He felt for it, every so often, to make sure that it was still there, hanging loosely next to his heart.

Dobby watched Winky, as she presented a plateful of toast to send up to the Hufflepuff table. As a result, he found that the pitcher of orange juice he was holding was dribbling down his front. He groaned inwardly, and let out a little squeak of apology, the other house elves using their own magic to mop up the mess that it had made on his jumper, tutting impatiently.

"Dobby is sorry." He repeated, over and over again. The other house elves didn't seem to notice much. This was something of a morning ritual here in the kitchens. Dobby would wake up, from dreaming all night about Winky. They would cook breakfast. He would burn the sausages because he was paying too much attention to Winky, on the other side of the room, grilling the kippers. They would recook them gracefully. They had actually gotten into the habit to cooking twice as many sausages, just to allow for the now traditional delay.

Then the students would begin to arrive. Dobby would have to send the knives and forks up to the tables above. He wouldn't concentrate enough, as Winky would be rushing around scouting out serviettes. Once he was so distracted, and his magic so inaccurate that he sent the spoons raining down on them all, pelting the heads of the tiny elves like heavy, silver hailstones. That time it had been much harder to brush it away as a phase and forgive.

This morning, however, was no different to any other. The spillage of the orange juice was actually quite remarkable, compared to the rest of Dobby's record. At any rate, watching his smitten mistakes was in a way, a form of entertainment in the house elves regularly monotonous lives. They couldn't admit truthfully that they hated it completely; even if they did still support large round bumps on their already knobbly heads.

**A/N: Please drop me a review! It would make my day and I promise that I always reply to them! Thanks so much for reading my weird little ficlet!**

Luv Ella xXx 


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: and last but not least… 

Dobby walked with his head high, up and down the room of requirement. Ginny and Hermione clapped when he got to the end. No matter how many times they assured him that being himself would get Winky to like him, he insisted that they were mistaken, and that they teach him more of how to be a real gentleman.

"Maybe you should act like Crouch. She seemed to love him." Ron suggested, laughing, from the corner. Harry also cracked a smile. Hermione scowled, but Dobby nodded his head earnestly.

"Yes Mr Wheezy sir! Dobby did thought of that sir! That is why he is trying to grow a moustache sir, see?" he pointed to the faint growth of white hair littering his upper lip. "But it is not easy for a house elf sir. Not easy at all."

Ron tried with all his might not to burst out into madly hysterical laughter at these words, and, as a result, turned blue in the face, rolling maniacally, yet silently, over the cushions on which he and Harry were perched.

Even Hermione managed to turn her giggle into a hiccup.

Dobby continued to walk proudly, his head up, and then Ginny got on to the next lesson; the smile.

"Now, Dobby, smile at me." She said, trying to have Hermione's motherly teaching charm, but coming out sounding slightly awkward.

Dobby broke into a wide, psychotic grin, all his teeth beaming up at them, the smell of the minty breath mints that he had forced down his throat very prominent.

"Wow wow wow." Ginny said, placing her hands on his shoulder. She was kneeling before Dobby, and Hermione was sitting next to her on a bright pink cushion.

"Now, a little less wide. Try less." Dobby smiled, a grin where only the top row of his teeth was shown. This was hard. Hermione and Ginny had no idea what a house elf looked for in another house elf. But he looked cute and innocent to the girls, and that was the look that they were going for…better get that then the manic they had received first up. Now they were on to rendering his appearance.

Ginny pulled the fake glasses off his nose.

"These are not a good look Dobby." She said.

"Hey!" came Harry's annoyed voice from the other side of the room, as he fingered his own glasses, offended. Ginny looked over at him, and rolled her eyes.

"On Dobby you dolt." Ginny said, and Harry relaxed slightly. Hermione tugged at his jumper, and felt the butterbeer corks underneath.

"What's this?" she asked him, as he pulled them out from under their woollen prison.

"That is Winky's Christmas present to Dobby Miss. Dobby is wearing it always."

The girls made squealing noises, and Harry and Ron exchanged uncomfortable glances.

"You know what Dobby, I don't think you need any help. I think that you just need to tell Winky how you feel." Said Hermione confidently. Dobby blushed at just the thought, and wrung his hands nervously.

"Dobby is scared miss. Dobby doesn't know if he can…"

"You're ready Dobby. You are officially a ladies man." Said Ginny, still holding back a giggle. Dobby beamed at them, and then hurried down to the kitchens, to begin making dinner.

They four friends walked back to the common room, Ginny and Hermione squealing at the adorableness of the miniature love story they were avidly assisting, and Harry and Ron exchanging nervous glances, having just witnessed such a girly hour, and sat in such a vividly pink version of the room of requirement. Ron cleared his throat, and looked at Harry.

"Er, that was pretty sentimental of him, eh? Keeping the necklace and all. Winky probably doesn't like him cause he's not a man."

Harry grinned.

"Yes, because it's so much different to sleeping with the book Hermione gave you under your pillow, isn't is?" he said, and kept walking, Ron left standing in the hallway, gapping after them.

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Dobby stared across at Winky, once again, the absence of the glasses from his long nose noticed by passing elves, who stared and pointed, both at that, and the new way that Dobby held himself. Dobby smiled his suave new smile, and gave his friends a small wave as he passed them.

"Dobby! Dobby!" One house elf, the leader in the kitchens, was running towards Dobby quickly, her arms and legs flaying wildly across the floor of the kitchens, her eyes wide open in fear. She came to rest next to him, panting, and Dobby looked worried.

"What is it?" he asked her, his squeaky voice even higher with worry, his eyes darting around the kitchen, and at all the other elves worried and confused faces.

"It is Winky Dobby. Winky is gone!" she said, wheezing out her words in between pants.

Dobby's great eyes widened, and he chocked back tears. He ran out of the kitchens. There was only one place that Winky went when she was drunk, and it was dangerous for her to be doing so in such broad daylight. The students would think that she was crazy. She could get herself fired!

Dobby ran, helter skelter, from the corridor that held the kitchens and up into the school, passing hoard of shocked students as he went, sending pot plant flying and other mysterious objects, which he did not stop to clean up. He would have to do that tonight anyway, what was the point while Winky gone?

Dobby ran up through the entrance hall, which was almost deserted, but for a few stragglers who were late for the last lesson of the day. He ignored their worried, scandalised shouts, and padded his tiny feet out through the door and onto the castle grounds. He had only found Winky here once before. It had been midnight, about two years ago.

He ran even faster still, over the grass that was flourishing in the summer breeze, and down the sloping hills that led to Hagrid's cottage, which sat alone on the edge of the Forest.

There she was. In the patch of earth that sat in front of Hagrid's house, digging frantically, covering herself with mountains of soot, Her hands blackened, her face covered with mud from where her ears combined with the dirt. Dobby sat down beside her, and gently put a little hand on her heaving shoulders, as she collapsed onto him, sobbing uncontrollably.

Dobby didn't know why she came here. There must have been a reason. She seemed to think, for some preposterous reason that digging up the earth in front of Hagrid's cabin would bring her old master back. Dobby didn't know why she would get such an idea into her head. Mr Crouch had gone missing in the forest, and the first time she had gone missing he had looked for her there for hours on end, getting horribly lost, until Hagrid had fished him out, and led him here.

Winky was distressed. The sweet smell of butterbeer lingered on her ominously, so that it no longer smelt welcoming and tasty, but off and vile, in such large amounts that even the smell made Dobby feel giddy.

She couldn't go back to the kitchens.

Dobby hauled Winky to her feet, muttering comforting words of encouragement, and carried her up to the school and into the room of requirement, using his magic to make them invisible. The house elves were only meant to use this when they were cleaning, and didn't want to be seen by the students, but this, Dobby decided, was an emergency, and so they dodged unsuspecting students rapidly, making their way up to the room of requirement.

Dobby opened up the door to the Room. He gasped. Winky was now asleep, snoring gently on his shoulder. The room was not what normally presented itself on such a situation. It was very far from it.

They were standing in a dimly lit room, centred around a tiny table, fit for two smitten house elves, and in the corner was a curtained off area, behind which Dobby could hear the gentle gurgling of a bath being run.

There were two beds (thankfully) and the walls of the room were coloured in a deep red. Dobby's cheeks darken, so that they seemed to blend with the walls. What would Winky say when she saw this?

Dobby lowered her into the bath, fully dressed, and watched as the dirt came apart in the water. Then he left, and tried to make the room look a little less suggesting.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Winky woke up. She knew that she had slept for a very long time. The remedies to butterbeer, and the hangover potion that Dobby had obviously fed her through the night had worked wonders. Her head felt clear. The only question that remained in her head was what she had gotten up to last night, for the last memory in her brain was that of her running from the kitchens, alone, and it didn't seem entirely plausible that she had run here, to Dobby, in a dimly lit room full of candles and remedies. There had to be something in between, and she knew that whatever it was was not going to be easy to explain her way out of.

"Morning!" said Dobby cheerfully, as he walked into view, carrying with him some bacon and eggs that he had no doubt stolen from kitchens before anyone else had been awake, the butterbeer cork necklace she remembered making for him jangling around his neck as he bounced over to wear she was sitting.

Dobby set the breakfast down on Winky's lap, and gave her an orange juice, commanding her to eat, for which Winky was grateful. She noticed that Dobby sported large, sleepless circles under his eyes, and yet he was smiling as though he had slept right through the night.

"Er, Winky, there is something that I wanted to tell you…" he said to her, the colour rising in his cheeks again, as he did when he was nervous. His ears seemed to be quivering with anticipation, and his eyes hopeful, yet extremely worried.

"I was wondering, if you…I mean, I needed to tell you that I…I don't know how to…I know that you might…" Dobby was stumbling hopelessly. Winky grinned. She knew what he was trying to say.

In one quick movement, acting very boldly for a house elf, Winky swept Dobby into a kiss. Dobby's eyes widened for a moment, before he relaxed, and clamped them tightly shut.

Winky grinned to herself. She knew that she would have had to step in sometimes. After all, sweet as he might be, Dobby the House Elf was most definitely not a ladies man…

THE END.

**A/N: thanks for reading! Lots of fun writing that! Lots and lots! Thanks to omnicat, who set the challenge, and pinocchino, who runs the forum, they're really fun, so thanks u 2!**

**Please drop me review! xXx**


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